TY - JOUR

T1 - Psychotherapy for subclinical depression

T2 - Meta-analysis

AU - Cuijpers, Pim

AU - Koole, Sander L.

AU - Van Dijke, Annemiek

AU - Roca, Miquel

AU - Li, Juan

AU - Reynolds, Charles F.

PY - 2014/10/1

Y1 - 2014/10/1

N2 - Background: There is controversy about whether psychotherapies are effective in the treatment of subclinical depression, defined by clinically relevant depressive symptoms in the absence of a major depressive disorder. Aims: To examine whether psychotherapies are effective in reducing depressive symptoms, reduce the risk of developing major depressive disorder and have comparable effects to psychological treatment of major depression. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of 18 studies comparing a psychological treatment of subclinical depression with a control group. Results: The target groups, therapies and characteristics of the included studies differed considerably from each other, and the quality of many studies was not optimal. Psychotherapies did have a small to moderate effect on depressive symptoms against care as usual at the post-test assessment (g = 0.35, 95% CI 0.23-0.47; NNT = 5, 95% CI 4-8) and significantly reduced the incidence of major depressive episodes at 6 months (RR = 0.61) and possibly at 12 months (RR = 0.74). The effects were significantly smaller than those of psychotherapy for major depressive disorder and could be accounted for by non-specific effects of treatment. Conclusions: Psychotherapy may be effective in the treatment of subclinical depression and reduce the incidence of major depression, but more high-quality research is needed.

AB - Background: There is controversy about whether psychotherapies are effective in the treatment of subclinical depression, defined by clinically relevant depressive symptoms in the absence of a major depressive disorder. Aims: To examine whether psychotherapies are effective in reducing depressive symptoms, reduce the risk of developing major depressive disorder and have comparable effects to psychological treatment of major depression. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of 18 studies comparing a psychological treatment of subclinical depression with a control group. Results: The target groups, therapies and characteristics of the included studies differed considerably from each other, and the quality of many studies was not optimal. Psychotherapies did have a small to moderate effect on depressive symptoms against care as usual at the post-test assessment (g = 0.35, 95% CI 0.23-0.47; NNT = 5, 95% CI 4-8) and significantly reduced the incidence of major depressive episodes at 6 months (RR = 0.61) and possibly at 12 months (RR = 0.74). The effects were significantly smaller than those of psychotherapy for major depressive disorder and could be accounted for by non-specific effects of treatment. Conclusions: Psychotherapy may be effective in the treatment of subclinical depression and reduce the incidence of major depression, but more high-quality research is needed.

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908148736&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/48ca28eb-3353-3053-899b-45c62e3e0ae4/

U2 - 10.1192/bjp.bp.113.138784

DO - 10.1192/bjp.bp.113.138784

M3 - Scientific review articles

C2 - 25274315

AN - SCOPUS:84908148736

VL - 205

SP - 268

EP - 274

JO - British Journal of Psychiatry

JF - British Journal of Psychiatry

SN - 0007-1250

IS - 4

ER -